HISTORY

Photo: Royal Air Force

THE VERY LAST OF THE FEW

TEXT: MIRO BARIČ

No. 85 Squadron pilots at Church Fenton airbase. From the left F/O John Hemingway, P/O Geofrey Howitt, F/O James

Marshall and kneeling is S/Ldr Peter Townsend with the unit’s mascot Kim. All the way to the right is F/O William Carnaby

with a propeller blade carrying marks of more than 140 kills achieved by the squadron.

There were already very few left 81 years ago. Winston Churchill nicknamed them The Few. Today

only one is still alive. John Hemingway, the last

pilot who in 1940 took part in the Battle of Britain.

The Battle of Britain lasted from July 10, 1940, till

the end of October 1940 with the heaviest fighting

taking place in August and September. According to the official statistics 2937 aviators from

RAF fighter units participated in it. They were

decorated with the Battle of Britain Pin which

was awarded to fighter squadrons‘ members

for at least one combat mission during that period of time. In addition to the fighter pilots, the

members of the RAF Bomber and Coastal Command units participated in the Battle. They flew

reconnaissance missions over the ocean and

attacked the landing crafts gathered by Germans

in the ports of the occupied Europe.

Britons lost 1,500 aircraft in total, and 544 fighter pilots were killed. Moreover 718 bomber aircrews and 280 members of the Coastal Commad

lost their lives. German losses amounted 2,000

aircraft, almost 2,600 aviators were killed and

another 900 were taken prisoners of war. More

than 14,000 British civilians were killed during

the bombing raids. Not only Britons fought in

the Battle. Out of 2,937 fighter pilots there were

2,342 of them, the rest was represented by other

nationalities. The Battle of Britain Pin was awarded to 145 Polish pilots, 127 New Zealanders, 112

Canadians, 88 Czechoslovaks, 32 Australians,

28 Belgians, 25 South Africans, 13 Frenchmen,

6

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10 Irishmen, nine Americans, three airmen from

Rhodesia and one each for pilots from Barbados,

Jamaica, and Newfoundland. On the German

He could not stand bloodallies took part in the

smaller scale bombing raids.

Nezniesol krv

One of ten Irish veterans of the Battle of Britain

is John „Paddy“ Hemingway. He was born on

July 17, 1919, to a rich family in Dublin. Contrary to the prevailing catholic religion in Ireland,

his family was of the Anglican faith. He received

the private education and was a member of the

boys‘ choir in the ancient St. Patrick’s cathedral

in Dublin. According to his own words he was

not very successful in this, and his career was

not headed in that direction. His parents wanted

him to become a surgeon, but this career was

marred by one substantial detail – John Hemingway could not stand looking at blood. In 1937 his

father brought him to London for an interview

with the RAF resulting in his acceptance in 1938.

At that time little did he suspect that he will see

pools of bloods pretty soon. After he completed

the fighter training in the spring of 1939, he was

assigned to No. 85 Squadron equipped with Hawker Hurricanes. While serving with this unit, on

September 3, 1939, he was caught up with the

Britain’s entry in the WWII. They woke him up and

ordered him to get ready for a scramble. When

20 years old Paddy was running across the Debden airbase tarmac to his Hurricane, he realized it was all for real. He promised to himself

to learn and master everything regardless of the

circumstances. Later this commitment helped

him on many occasions.

First victories

Hemingway’s No. 85 Squadron became the part

of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force in France. The squadron was mostly

engaged in the air patrols over the Channel. As

a part of a bet Paddy grew moustache while in

France and he continued wearing it until now.

The relative lull in fighting ended on May 10, 1940,

when the current sitzkrieg escalated into blitzkrieg. At Lille/Seclin airbase, home of No. 85

Squadron, the alarm was sounded at 04.10. On

that day John Hemingway flew four sorties and

during one of them he shot down a Heinkel He

111 bomber. On the day he added also Dornier Do

17 to his score but while attacking the German

motorized convoys he was hit by flak and had

to make an emergency landing near Maastricht.

He joined the crowd of fleeing Belgium citizens

and on May 15, 1940, the British Army got him

back to Lille/Seclin base. During this period Hemingway stuck a close friendship with Richard

Hugh Anthony Lee, nicknamed Dickie. Their fates were similar in many ways. During the blitzkrieg opening days, Lee shot down even four

German airplanes and since he had shot down

He 111 from Stab/KG4 into the sea near Boulogne

INFO Eduard - October 2021